Colour is the single most influential sensory cue shaping consumer expectations before taste and mouthfeel are factored in. A vast body of research has shown that changes to colour intensity or hues in food and beverage products can radically alter consumer perceptions – and even decide if a product succeeds or flops.
Colour’s make-or-break power has made it a controversial topic among regulators, scholars and consumers. The impact of artificial colours on health has been closely examined by academia – with growing evidence linking some artificial dyes to adverse behavioural issues in children – and regulators are forcing manufacturers to phase out the worst offenders.
Consumers are also more likely to choose products with natural colours over such with artificial ones – though duller hues have at times proved a deterrent, leading to slower sales.
While these R&D hurdles matter across dairy categories, particularly flavoured yogurt and beverages, the sector is largely associated with naturalness and minimal processing, enabling it to maintain its health halo.
Yet, brands may be missing a trick – by not highlighting dairy’s natural colour properties nearly enough to drive premiumisation.
Milk is ‘white’? Not quite
Irish dairy has long been associated with premium quality and provenance. Consumers have come to expect Irish butter’s intense yellow hue, linking its rich colour to grass-fed credentials, animal welfare, and provenance. Brands such as Kerrygold have long signalled premium positioning through packaging (its iconic golden wrapper) that also semantically ties with the butter’s ‘golden’ colour.
But by and large, butter brands have underexploited colour as a marker of quality – opting instead to spotlight ingredients, origin, and farming systems on pack (or, in another extreme, keep branding plain to differentiate through simplicity). These visual cues matter, but short, evocative colour descriptions may provoke the consumer imagination just enough to convert intent into sales.
The same applies to milk. Jersey cow’s milk, which is experiencing a resurgence in the UK, is largely associated with a traditional, cream-on-top experience. Brands are leveraging ‘gold top’ claims to signal provenance and indulgence, but call-outs such as ‘naturally ivory’ and ‘cream-tinted’ may further reinforce the premium message. Colour can also be used to spotlight breed types or highlight grass-fed credentials more vividly.
In cheese, many types of hard cheeses use annatto, a natural food colouring, to create bolder colours hues. On the other hand, cheeses that don’t leverage any colour additives are naturally paler. To that end, colour claims can improve differentiation and consumer awareness at the same time while helping brands position such products as more closely aligned with nature.
The logic also applies to categories such as crème fraiche and double cream – two segments ripe for reinvention. For manufacturers in this space, highlighting natural colour credentials could prove a low-risk, high-reward move, encouraging shoppers to reimagine the richness and creaminess of these traditional dairy staples.
And so, if colour sets the stage for how flavour is perceived, better communicating dairy’s natural colour could play a crucial role in elevating consumer expectations and perceived quality – and ultimately, justifying these products’ premium positioning.
